The Long Wait
by enigma939
Summary: The story of the 'hidden years' between Marty's final departure from 1955, till the fateful day of the first time travel experiment...as experienced by Doc Brown. FINAL CHAPTER UP!
1. Chapter 1 : Loose Ends

**The Long Wait**

**Chapter 1-Loose Ends**

**A/N: **This fic is basically going to be a series of short stories covering the thirty year gap, from Doc's POV, between Marty's departure to 1885 on November 16th 1955, till the fateful day of the first temporal experiment, October 26th 1985. The first chapter is basically my attempt (admittedly feeble) to resolve the so-called 'Tombstone paradox'. I admit it's pretty flimsy, and I myself often subscribe to another more complex explanation, but for the sake of literary license, I entreat everyone to accept it at least in the context of this fic.

_Wednesday, November 16__th__, 1955_

The reverberations of the three sonic booms rattled Doc Emmett Brown's ears long after the Delorean disappeared through time into the past. Doc looked across the expanse of the Drive-in theatre and saw, in the distance, a pair of flare trails leading up to the life-sized images of the Indians.

It worked! Marty had successfully been transported back to 1885.

Even after seventy years of disuse, the time vehicle had succeeded yet again in doing precisely what he, Doc Brown, had invented it to do. Or rather, _would _invent it to do.

And beholding the evidence of Marty's successful temporal displacement reminded Doc of the reason why this journey was made. _Him_. Or more precisely, his future self, trapped in the Old West, and destined to be shot dead unless Marty succeeded in saving him.

It suddenly occurred to Doc that since Marty was now seventy years in the past (if the word 'now' was even applicable in this case, then the results of any of his actions would already be very much in evidence...in other words, the very fact of Marty's existence in 1885 meant that history had been altered, and that he, Doc Brown, was living (and retroactively, had _always _been living) in a new timeline!

Which reminded him of the specific event Marty had gone back to change...the tombstone! Great Scott, the tombstone! Was it still there? At the back of his mind, Doc felt a little loss of hope...if Marty had saved him, logically, the tombstone wouldn't even exist and he wouldn't even remember it ever being there...indeed, wasn't the very fact that he remembered it indicative of the fact that the tombstone had existed, and still existed, and that he _hadn't_ been saved?

He had to know. Doc knew that there was no way he could ever rest in peace (alive, that was!) as long as he didn't have some sort of an answer...it wasn't good to know too much about one's future, but in this case, Doc was willing to make a very vehement exception.

So he got back into his white Packard and drove out of the theatre. As he drove back into town, he passed Eastwood Ravine and the railway bridge that passed over it. _Eastwood _Ravine...something about the name suddenly bothered Doc. He didn't see why...after all, as far back as he could remember, the ravine had always been called that...but still...

_Clint Eastwood never wore anything like this_. Marty's words, spoken mere minutes before. From Marty's comments, Doc had gathered that this Clint Eastwood was a popular actor in the 1980's, and...Great Scott! Could it be...? The ravine certainly wasn't named after an actor who wasn't even _alive_ in the 19th century, let alone well-known...and the only other person in that era likely to know the name was...

No! No point dwelling on that now, Doc snapped to himself. Whatever had happened after September 2nd 1885 was history, but to him it was the future...and therefore, it was best if he didn't think too much about it. Right now, there was only one thing he wanted to know about his future...

He arrived at Boot Hill Cemetery in record time, and nearly ran to the spot where the tombstone had lain, only to find...

It was gone!

The tombstone had vanished, disappeared into thin air, _erased from existence_...

"Great...Scott!", he whispered to himself as he beheld the empty spot in the ground.

It was gone...and that only meant one thing...

He was alive! Marty had saved him!

He was alive!

But one thing bothered him...why did he even _remember _the tombstone if it never existed in the first place? The timeline in which he'd been killed had been erased and replaced by the one he was in now...so why did he remember something he could only have seen in another timeline...

Unless...

Perhaps, the tombstone, at least from his point of view in this new timeline caused by Marty's trip back to 1885, was merely an 'echo' from an erased reality...it had existed temporarily, solely for the purpose of preventing a paradox...After all, as it just occurred to him, if the tombstone hadn't been there, Marty wouldn't have gone back to save him, in which case he would have been killed and the tombstone _would _be there...

No, perhaps, the tombstone being there had been the universe's way of preserving causality...it _was _the only explanation after all.

Well, Doc thought as he drove back home, it didn't matter...Marty was safe, his future was safe...and now...he had that future before him to live out...all thirty years of it...

Doc felt no little sorrow at the thought that he wouldn't be seeing Marty again for nearly thirty years, and even then, he would have to wait till October 26th 1985 before they could talk about everything that had happened in the past eleven days...

Had it really been only eleven days? Doc felt it had been another lifetime, when Marty first showed up on his doorstep, claiming to be his friend from the future. That night, Doc had discovered he had succeeded in the greatest scientific endeavour of all time...time travel! And despite the shocks and stresses of having to help Marty preserve his own existence, finding a way to send him back to the future, to say nothing of the shocking news he'd brought on his _second _trip to 1955 of his future self being trapped in the past, and the discovery of the tombstone...Doc wouldn't have traded away the last eleven monumental days in his life for all the world.

But he realised now, perhaps better than he had before, that the last eleven days had only been possible because of what he would accomplish thirty years from now.

Yes, it was going to be a long _long _wait...but at the end of it all, he was sure that it would be worth it...


	2. Chapter 2 : The Wedding

**The Long Wait**

**Chapter 2-The Wedding**

_Saturday, June 3__rd__, 1961_

The doorbells rang thrice before Doc, who was asleep at his workplace, caught notice and hurriedly made his way to the door. The dazed scientist, disoriented with lack of proper sleep for days, opened the door, looked out at the clear blue morning sky, and noted, "Its already morning?", not even noticing the two people standing on his door step.

"Doctor Brown?" a female voice, intruded in his thoughts.

Doc's attention immediately snapped towards the young woman who was speaking to him, and the man standing beside her. It took only a moment before his eyes widened in recognition.

"Lorraine! Lorraine Baines, isn't it?" he said, looking at Marty's future mother. Now in her early twenties, Lorraine looked as radiant and attractive as she had six years ago when she'd fallen for 'Calvin Klien', except that she'd lost some of that devilish mischievous look Doc somehow felt she'd had back then. He supposed being in a steady relationship had done that to her...

It was then that he took notice of the man beside her...George McFly! George had already made quite a name for himself as a writer of science fiction stories, and screenplays...having even won a scholarship to Berkley at one point. Marty had told Doc, on his second trip, about how the future had changed owing to his actions to one where George McFly was a renowned author...and he could see the seeds of that success already.

"Well, not for much longer", Lorraine said, half-blushing as she said that. George squeezed her arm. "That's why I've come here. To invite you for our wedding on the 17th!"

"Oh marvellous! Congratulations to you both!" Doc said smiling, as he shook hands with the couple. He didn't give them even the slightest hint that he'd known for years that this was their destiny.

"And also..." Lorraine hesitated, "to invite Marty".

"Marty?" Doc said, puzzled, and then realised, "Oh...you mean..."

"Calvin Klien", Lorraine said. "We were hoping he could make it. After all, he's one of the reasons why it's happening!"

"Ah well...I'm sorry to tell you this...I haven't been in touch with Marty...Calvin...for years now", Doc said truthfully.

"Oh", George said disappointed. "I thought he was your nephew".

"Only an informal one I'm afraid. Actually, he's the son of two very old friends of mine...who I'm sorry to say passed away a while ago. He only stayed with me once, during that week back in November 1955. He left a few days after he took you to that dance, Lorraine", he said.

"Can you please try, Doctor Brown, to get in touch with him? We'd really like him to be there?" Lorraine pleaded.

"I'm sure, my dear, if he knew, he would have really liked to be there as well", Doc replied sincerely.

"But you will come yourself, won't you?" George asked.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world", Doc smiled.

_Saturday, June 17__rd__, 1961_

"And now, you may kiss the bride!"

And they did, with a passion Doc was sure had been non-existent in the timeline before Marty's interference.

Doc hadn't been lying when he said Marty would have liked to have attended his parents wedding. And for him, more than anyone else, it would be possible to. In fact, Doc almost half-expected to see Marty back from the future, furtively watching the proceedings. But there was no sign of the teenager. Perhaps it was better that way. As his future self had written, seventy six years ago, unnecessary time travel only risked further disrupting the space-time continuum.

After the ceremony, he had met the bride and groom and shared a drink with them. "Well", he told the blushing couple, "Here's to the future".

And they all raised their glasses and clinked them.

_If only they knew_, Doc thought wryly.


	3. Chapter 3 : Meeting Marty

**The Long Wait**

**Chapter 3-Meeting Marty**

**A/N: **And it's not the 'first meeting' you may have been expecting...

_Thursday, June 13__th__, 1968_

Thirteen years. It had been thirteen years already since Marty had left. Not even half of the long wait was over.

That's not to say that time was crawling. Things had changed a lot, especially in the last seven years since George and Lorraine's wedding. Marty's siblings, Dave and Linda, had been born. Old Man Peabody had sold his land to developers, and Lone Pine Mall, destined to be the sight of the first ever temporal experiment, was under construction. His own family mansion had burnt down as the accidental result of one of his experiments; he'd been forced to sell away the land to overcome his bankruptcy. Marty had perhaps wisely neglected to tell him about that particular event. Still, Doc had made himself quite comfortable in the garage.

The 'flux capacitor' was coming along reasonably well. The time circuit control microchip even better (the fact that he'd virtually reconstructed it back in 1955 certainly helped!) But Doc knew that there was still seventeen years, four months, left before the time machine would finally be ready to roll.

Doc stole a glance at his wall calendar, even as he surveyed his blueprints for a newer version of an automatic dog-food feeder for his dog, Newton. June 13th. _June 13__th_...Great Scott! That meant, it had happened already! His friend had come into the world yesterday!

Doc had known Marty's exact birth date, having seen it on his driver's license. And he had seen a very-pregnant Lorraine around town . But now that it had happened...what?

It's not as though he could meet Marty. The one day old child would be barely capable of making comprehensible sounds. Sure, he could call upon the McFly's...he was reasonably well-acquainted with them...but it would seem odd nonetheless, as to why he would take such an interest in the McFly's third child...when he hadn't even called upon them when their previous two children had been born.

Doc was musing about this when his phone rang. He picked it up. "Emmett Brown speaking", he said.

"Doctor Brown, it's me, Lorraine. Lorraine McFly. George and I were wondering if you could come to tea this evening. We'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family".

"Oh I'd be delighted to", Doc replied, hardly believing his luck. "I'll be there shortly".

At last, after thirteen years, he was going to meet Marty...for the 'first' time...

"Here he is. Martin Seamus McFly. We decided to name him in poor old Marty's memory", Lorraine said.

A few years ago, Doc had decided to tell Lorraine and George that he believed that their old friend Calvin Klien had been lost at sea. Both Lorraine and George were distraught, but Doc figured it would be better than letting them harbour false hopes of ever seeing the man who brought them together, again. Although now, unknown to both of them, they had just given birth to him...

"Marty...that's a nice name!" Doc said with a smile.

"Well it so happens that it's also an old family name", said George.

"What a coincidence!" Doc said, a twinkle in his eye, knowing that there was no coincidence after all.

The phone rang somewhere in another room in the house, and George ran off to get it. "Lorraine", he called a few minutes later, "It's your brother Joey".

"I'm coming" Lorraine shouted. "Would you mind holding Marty for a second, Doctor?" she said, handing the infant to Doc as he rushed off to the phone. Doc, and his future friend, were now alone.

Doc looked into the infant's eyes. The eyes were about the only thing he recognised about the child he was holding. "Hello Marty", he said softly. "It's been a long time...thirteen years! Though you wouldn't know it". He paused, then realising that Marty wouldn't remember anything he was saying anyway, added, "You may not know it now, but in the future, you and I will become great friends...and one day, you will help me in the greatest scientific endeavour of all time..."

"You know, I never did get a chance to thank you...for saving my life", Doc said. "Though it's in the future for both of us. After you left the drive-in, I went to the cemetery...the tombstone was gone! You succeeded, Marty! You saved me!"

The child stared uncomprehendingly at him. At that moment, Lorraine and George returned and Lorraine took her newborn son back. "Well, I'm glad you were able to make it, Doctor Brown", George said.

"I'm glad I made it as well", Doc replied.

**A/N: **p.s. Marty's birthday is taken from what I believe was the date given in some merchandise...its the closest to an 'official' birthday I can think of.


	4. Chapter 4 : Nearly There

**The Long Wait**

**Chapter 4-Nearly There**

**A/N: **I've noticed only about a million stories about how Marty and Doc first 'officially' met, so I decided to skip that part (though I've made a small mention of it in this chapter) and jump directly into the early days of Marty and Doc's friendship. There are a lot of little nods to small details in the movies in this chapter...

_Saturday, June 16th, 1983_

"_IT WORKS...ITS WORKS...I finally invent something that actually works!" he jumped up and down excitedly, barely believing the futuristic vehicle that lay before him, let alone his own uncanny connection to it._

"_You bet your ass it works", Marty said drily._

"_Somehow we've got to sneak this back to my lab", he said, grabbing Marty by the shoulders. "We've got to get you HOME!"_

"Hey Doc", Marty said.

Doc sat up in his bed with a start and looked at Marty. Marty, the miraculous visitor from the future who had changed his life overnight. Marty, the kid from 1985 who needed his help to get back to the future...

"Good thing you woke me up, Marty", Doc said briskly as he jumped up and threw on his overcoat over the clothes he'd slept in last night. "I better start work on our little 'weather experiment' right away!"

"Uh, Doc...what 'weather experiment'?" Marty asked, confused.

"Why, the..." Doc began, but then suddenly glanced around at his surroundings. He wasn't in his mansion after all! He was in his garage! Which meant, this wasn't 1955 and the Marty before him was not a seventeen year old kid from the future, but a fifteen year old who very much belonged to 1983...

"Great Scott!" he exclaimed. "Oh, I'm sorry Marty...for a second there, I seemed to think I was back in the 50's".

"The 50's huh?" Marty commented. "Why'd you call my name then? What do I have to do with the 50's?" 

"Oh well", Doc froze for a second. He'd never before let slip even the smallest detail to _this _Marty, in all the months he'd known him, about the trip to the past he was destined to make. "You, uh, you remind me of someone I knew, way back in the 50's", he said hurriedly and somewhat truthfully.

"Oh well", Marty shrugged. "I don't suppose you remember, but you'd called me over to clear up your lab".

"Ah yes of course...there's a twenty in it for you, Marty", Doc said.

"Oh, gee, thanks Doc. Although _your _lab, I wouldn't mind cleaning up for free...not with your music collection, or all your cool sound equipment!", Marty replied.

It was true, Doc reflected. It had been last Christmas that Doc had answered Marty's advertisement for a job. He'd somehow known that this was it. So he hired Marty to do some cleaning up of his garage, and to help out in his experiments. Before long, their professional relationship already matured into a personal one. Doc somehow knew, even if he'd not known so much about the future already, that Marty McFly was the one person with whom he'd be willing to share the secrets of time travel.

"I much appreciate that, Marty", Doc replied.

So Marty had started sorting through years worth of junk created by numerous scientific experiments. Some things, Doc instructed him to store safely away at a corner...other more redundant equipment and materials, Doc instructed him to dismantle and place in boxes ("Maybe I'll get a good deal on them in a garage sale", he'd commented).

One item in particular caught the teen's attention. "Say, Doc...is this...supposed to be the Town Square?" Marty asked, pointed out the reasonably large model Doc had constructed twenty eight years ago, as part of his plan to send Marty back to the future.

"Why, yes, it is", Doc hastily commented. "Part of that little 'weather experiment' I was talking about".

"Must have been some experiment", Marty said, admiring the model. "Maybe you'll tell me about it someday".

"Sure I will", Doc said, smiling to himself. _You'll learn...twenty eight years ago._

As Marty was still at work, Doc took a few minutes to reflect on everything that was happening. Events were progressing fast, faster now than they had before. The last fifteen years since Marty's birth had literally breezed by. George McFly had won a prestigious literary award in 1973, and was thus propelled into the ranks of renowned authors. The McFly family became increasingly prosperous (no longer could anyone, least of all Strickland, make the claim that "No McFly has ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley!"). Biff had mellowed down greatly over the years, enjoying moderate success with his own Auto-Detailing firm; one of his prime customers being, ironically, his former victim, George McFly! Lone Pine Mall was completed, and had already replaced the Town Square as _the _major commercial centre of Hill Valley. And Ronald Reagan, the actor, had become the President of the United States! (Doc wryly remembered his exchange with Marty way back in 1955 on the subject).

A lot of things had happened in Doc's life as well, some which he'd known would come, and others which came as complete surprises. He'd bought a puppy whom he knew was Einstein, the dog who Marty had told him he would have in 1985, and so named his new pet accordingly. He'd purchased a Delorean...having had no trouble in identifying it as _the _Delorean, considering the fact that he'd worked on it twice already. The stainless steel construction indeed would be ideal for flux dispersal. Earlier this year, he'd been pleasantly surprised to receive a Civic Award from the mayor, for his assistance in solving a major drainage problem the town had faced last year with a little invention of his. And of course, the fact that Marty had finally entered his life, was in itself a gigantic leap towards what he often thought of in his head as 'D-Day'...

Yes, Doc thought, he was nearly there...and yet he was impatient...having waited so long, the next 2 years 3 months and 10 days simply couldn't elapse fast enough for him...


	5. Chapter 5 : The Letter

**The Long Wait**

**Chapter 5-The Letter**

**A/N: **I've been to a lot of BTTF forums and a common topic of discussion seems to be whether or not Marty's second trip to 1955 should have somehow interfered with Doc's taping together and read Marty's letter warning him about the Libyans. In this chapter, I hope to answer that question in my own way.

_Tuesday, January 1__st__, 1985_

At the stroke of midnight, Doc, sitting alone in his garage apartment with a bottle of Scotch by his side, could barely contain his euphoria.

Finally, the future!

The future which Marty had come from, the future he'd known he'd live to see for thirty years, the future he'd so longed for...was now his present.

1985.

1985!

Doc could still scarcely believe it.

His euphoria even momentarily caused him to forget the somewhat sobering fact that there were still nearly ten months to go before the first temporal experiment. The nearer he got to October 26th 1985, the more impatient and restless he grew.

But today at least, as a small consolation, he would get to piece together, quite literally, at least one portion of the puzzle that was his future. This was the one aspect of Marty's visit to 1955 that filled with him the most curiosity, to say nothing of a kind of strange fear and dread he instinctively felt when he thought about it.

And even as he thought about it now, he mind raced back to those days of Marty's second visit to 1955.

_It had been one of the longest, most shocking days of his life. More shocking even than the day a teenager from the future showed up on his doorstep. _

_It had begun in the Town's Square...mere seconds after witnessing the astounding sight of the time-vehicle disappearing into the future in a flash of light, he was greeted by the sight of Marty who claimed to have come _back _from the future!_

_He had fainted on the spot. When he woke up at home, he refused to believe it. But the things Marty said were undeniable, and so was the proof._

_Great Scott! To think, that his future self was here...in 1955! That he was now trapped in 1885! That he had just unearthed the Delorean that he _himself _would bury in the future that was in the past...it was...incredible! Too incredible to be believed!_

_And then...what was undeniable the worst shock of the day...the tombstone! _His _tombstone! 'Shot in the back...by Bufford Tannen...over a matter of eighty dollars"-words that he felt were enough in themselves to haunt him into that grave..._

_He and Marty were back home now. It was early Monday morning. Just a week ago, he and Marty had been planning to head over to the school...to correct the catastrophic mistake Marty had made in interfering with his parent's first meeting. And now, it was not Marty's, but _his _own existence that was at stake._

"_You okay, Doc?" Marty asked him anxiously._

"_I'm...fine, Marty", he said. "It's just that...well, it isn't something I ever thought I'd see...my own tombstone". He paused. "I suppose, I may have thought...if I travelled far enough into the future, I might be able to see it...but to think that it was right there in the cemetery all along for all my life...hell, even _before _I was born!"_

"_Yeah, I know, it's real heavy Doc", Marty said morosely. "But don't worry, I said I'll go back and bring you home. And I'll do it. You better start working on the Delorean"._

"_You're right Marty", he sighed. He made his way to his work-desk, where he had placed the schematics his future self had drawn,, of the time circuit control microchip. And next to it, he noticed a few scraps of paper. For a moment, he wondered where they came from, but then, the memory suddenly lashed across his consciousness with the intensity of lightining..._

"_Marty", he said. When the teenager came to his side, he scooped up all the fragments of the letter the teen had surreptitiously tried to give him moments before he returned to the future. "This is that letter you'd tried to give me on Saturday night...I must have taken the pieces out of my coat pocket sometime and forgotten about it. But I guess I'd better burn them now"._

_Marty's eyes suddenly widened in shock. "NO DOC, NO, DON'T BURN THEM. FOR GOD'S SAKE!"_

_Doc was stunned by Marty's sudden cry. He sensed not only panic in the teen's voice, but anguish. Really, what _was _in this letter anyway? Somehow, he felt it was no business of his to know too much about the future (which was funny, considering all he'd learned in the past 24 hours alone)...and yet there was a part of him that was simply burning with curiosity..._

_He replied softly, "You were the one reminded me Marty...just a few hours ago...that it wasn't a good idea to know too much about my future...and you were right"._

"_But Doc-this-this isn't the same..." Marty argued, pleaded almost._

"_Look Doc", Marty tried again. "It's important..._extremely_ important that you tape together that letter and read it. Believe me when I tell you that your life depends on it. And that if it weren't for that letter, neither of us would even _be _here talking about it!"_

_This caused him to stop and think. If indeed what Marty was saying was true..._

"_Do you mean to say that...in the future...I _did _read this letter?"_

"_YES, Doc", Marty said emphatically. "You _did _read it. In fact, you even had it with you in the mall when I got back. You showed it to me. It was kinda weird, seeing something I'd written only a couple of hours ago looking about thirty years old, but that's beside the point"._

_Marty sighed. "Look Doc, I know you don't want to know about your future. And I can't blame you for that. I've learnt a bit about _my _future too...and well...I can understand why someone would not want to know", the teenager hesitated for a few moments and continued, "But Doc, let's face it, you know quite a lot already...you know you're going to meet me someday. You know you're going to build a time machine. You know you're going to travel into the future, and back to 1955, and then get stuck in 1885! You've seen your own tombstone...hell, you even know that you're gonna name for dog 'Einstein' for crying out loud!" Marty had to resist the urge to laugh at that._

"_But believe me..._none _of that is as important as what's in that letter. Hell, if I'd known that my coming here would somehow interfere with you reading it...well, not that I had a choice anyway..."_

_Doc, still reeling back from Marty's words, looked down at the fragments. The fragments which, when put together, would reveal the last secrets of his future..._

_Then he looked back at Marty. For a whole minute they stood staring at each other silently._

_Finally, Marty spoke, now softly, "Look Doc, you don't need to read it right now...just promise me you'll read it sometime before the night I go back..."_

_He sighed. "Yes, I will, Marty". He then found another envelope, and stuffed the fragments into it. He sealed the envelope and, with a pen he hastily picked up, wrote the same words on it Marty had originally written-"DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 1985"._

_Marty heaved a sigh of relief. "Remember to bring it with you to the mall...and when I ask you why you changed your mind...just say "Well I figured...what the hell""._

"_What the hell", he whispered to himself. Yeah, come to think of it, that's precisely the sort of answer he would have given..._

And now, finally, it was 1985, and the moment of truth was at hand...

He took out the envelope from his safe, where it had lain for the better part of thirty years, and slowly, carefully, opened it.

The fragments fell onto the table.

He reversed each of the fragments to make sure that the parts with writing were facing away from him.

He found himself some tape.

And he began to piece it together.

And try as hard as he could...he couldn't stop Marty's words from echoing in his head incessantly...

"_Your life...DEPENDS on it..."_

_Dear Dr. Brown,_

_On the night that I go back in time, at 1:30 AM, you will be shot by terrorists. __Please__ take whatever precautions are necessary to prevent this terrible disaster._

_Your friend,_

_Marty_

Finally, the truth.

The truth he had held back for nearly thirty years.

And even as Emmett Brown read those words again and again, one single foreboding fact kept plaguing him.

_This _was his destiny. His 'true' destiny, had time travel not worked. To be gunned down by terrorists in the parking lot of Lone Pine Mall. _Twin Pines Mall_, as it would have been, 'originally'.

In a way, this was even worse than seeing his own tombstone. His death in the Old West, which Marty had prevented anyway, had been the result of accidental time travel...but _this_...this was his true destiny...this was the reality Marty had lived through before his first trip to 1955...

And then, a ray of optimism shone through this dread realisation. _But _he had survived! He knew that now. And Marty's letter had been the key to his survival...

Marty.

It just occurred to Doc that this was now the second time that boy had saved his life. Well, actually the first...time travel sure made things confusing!

He really had a lot to owe to that kid.

There was a knock on his door. Doc, realising it was morning already, hurriedly put away the letter and answered it.

"Marty", he exclaimed. "How come you're up so early?"

"Didn't even sleep last night", Marty replied with a grin. "Anyway, I'm actually on my way to Jennifer's place...I just dropped by to say Happy New Year!"

Doc stared at the sixteen year old. By now, he was virtually identical to the Marty he'd met in 1955. To the Marty who was destined to save his life...twice!

"Thank you, Marty", he replied softly.

"Well...see you later, Doc!" Marty said as he rushed off on his skateboard.

Doc almost laughed and shook his head. If only that kid knew the real reason why he thanked him...

Well he would...soon...

**A/N: **By the way, the flashback is set very early in the morning of November 14th, 1955...a few hours after Marty and Doc discovered the tombstone, unearthed the Delorean, and read up on Bufford Tannen...


	6. Chapter 6 : The Beginning

**The Long Wait**

**Chapter 6-The Beginning**

**A/N: **So finally, five chapters later, we finally come to the time of the first scene of BTTF1...which will be seen here from Doc's POV. This is understandably the most dialogue-heavy chapter in this fic so far (and also the toughest to write-I had to watch and re-watch that scene about six times to get all the dialogue down accurately).

_Friday, October 25__th__, 1985_

At last, the long wait was drawing to an end!

Doc Brown marvelled at his latest invention with an almost paternal pride...the invention which would help save his life...had _already _helped save his life...twice!

The time machine!

And in the early hours of the next morning, it would be sent, accidently, on its first journey through time.

Doc could scarcely believe it...in a little less than two days from now, from the Delorean's point of view, it would be hidden behind a billboard in the neighbourhood that would become Lyons Estates, awaiting the arrival of a thirty year younger version of himself .

Doc remembered the day he had first set his eyes on the Delorean vividly. He had recalled his astonishment at beholding this strange looking vehicle, his bewilderment at being told it would be his in the future, and his sheer exhilaration at realising that his greatest experiment was destined to succeed!

And yet, the 'time vehicle', as he had called it back then (though he was now getting used to thinking of it simply as 'the Delorean') was as yet untested...it was hard to believe that it was not _yet _the vehicle he had seen, even worked upon, thirty years ago. For him, it was the end of a three decade long wait...for the time machine, it was only the beginning...

The events of November 1955 would never have happened if not for the events of a day in October 1985...by any conventional interpretation of the laws of causality, it should have been the other way round...but owing to the paradoxes of time travel...laws of causality be damned! 

He was in a warehouse on the outskirts of Hill Valley, a warehouse he'd rented about three months ago specifically for the completion of some final delicate adjustments to the Delorean. He needed some peace and quiet, a lot more than usual, and his garage in the middle of a busy commercial hub was hardly what the doctor (in this case, himself!) ordered.

But now he had to take the first step towards ensuring that the events of tomorrow morning, and of thirty years ago, occurred.

He had to call Marty...invite the teenager to the temporal experiment that would change his life!

He glanced at his pocket-watch-8.20 am. He knew Marty sometimes swung by his lab around this time; he especially would be doing this for the past week, waiting for him to show up, given that he hadn't been anywhere near his apartment, or even anywhere in town for that matter, for the past week.

He decided to take a chance and phoned his own number.

Someone, obviously Marty, picked up the phone.

"Yo!" Marty exclaimed.

"Marty, is that you?" Doc asked, somewhat pointlessly, since he'd recognised the teenager's voice.

"Hey! Hey Doc, where are you?" Marty asked.

"Thank God I found you! Listen, can you meet me at Lone Pine Mall at 1: 15. I've made a major breakthrough, and I'll need your assistance", Doc replied trying to sound as casual as possible. _Yeah, I need your assistance alright...just like you needed mine...thirty years ago..._Doc thought to himself, trying desperately to stop himself from laughing at the irony and the sheer illogicality of it all!

"Wait a minute? 1: 15 in the morning?" the teen exclaimed, as though unable to believe his friend's strange request. _If you think you find _that _unbelievable kid..._Doc thought wryly, his thoughts flowing back thirty years, to a teenager in imminent danger of fading from existence entirely, owing to his interruption of his parent's first meeting! A teenager who had arrived from the future in a modified sports car...Marty was going to have to revise his standards of disbelief very soon!

"Doc what's going on? Where've you been all week?" Marty continued.

"Working", Doc replied truthfully.

"Where's Einstein, is he with you?" Marty asked, sounding a little concerned.

"Yeah, he's right here", Doc replied, glancing at the sheepdog lying on the floor next to his feet.

"You know Doc, you left you're equipment on all week", said Marty.

"My equipment!" Doc exclaimed, suddenly remembering. Great Scott! He'd been so engrossed in his plans for the time machine at the time of his departure from his lab that he'd completely forgotten about it! "That reminds me, Marty", he continued, hoping against hope the kid hadn't started messing around with the amplifier already. "You'd better not hook up to the amplifier...there's a slight possibility of overload".

"Yeah...I'll keep that in mind!" Marty replied, his voice laced with mild sarcasm. Doc guessed from his tone that he could expect to be confronted by a huge mess when he returned to his lab...whenever that would be. Oh well, no time to waste on trifles, Doc told himself.

"Good. I'll see you tonight", Doc said. "Don't forget now...1: 15 am, Lone Pine Mall"

"Right", Marty replied, ending the conversation. At that instant, Doc could hear the almost deafening chimes of his many clocks...the product of his decades-long obsession with time.

"Are those my clocks I hear?" Doc asked, raising his voice so that Marty could hear him above the chimes. The sound of the clocks reminded him of something else.

"Yeah!" Marty replied. "Its, uh, 8 o'clock".

"Perfect! My experiment worked!" Doc exclaimed. "They're all exactly twenty five minutes slow!" He remembered now clearly...another pointless experiment he'd set up on a boring day, arising once more out of his preoccupation with time.

"Wait a minute...wait a minute", Marty now sounded concerned. "Are you telling me that its eight _twenty-five_?"

"Precisely", Doc replied.

"Damn", the teenager cursed. "I'm late for school!" he added, before hanging up.

Doc put the phone down and laughed to himself. That kid _really _had no concept of time! Well, the next couple of weeks, for him, would rectify that...

He wondered now whether he'd had this conversation with Marty in the original timeline,

'before' Marty's first trip into the past (he wondered if 'before' was even the appropriate term to use while referring to events that occurred earlier in meta-time), and if so, how much, if at all, had the conversation differed?

But it didn't matter. All that mattered for now were the events of Lone Pine Mall. Doc waited for it with both unbound enthusiasm and, since he had read Marty's letter, no small amount of trepidation. But he would survive the Libyan's bullets...he knew that. Just as he would survive the bullet of Bufford Tannen, though he wasn't sure how much longer would he remember _that_. Time travel and shifting timelines did strange things to one's memories...as he had vaguely gathered from Marty's case.

Looking at the Delorean again, he had to virtually overpower himself to stop himself from jumping into the car and taking his long-awaited trip into the future. But he knew he couldn't. Not until Marty was back from the past that was. Not until history had been made.

Yes, Doc thought. That was perhaps a fitting title.

October 26th 1985 would be a day when history would _literally _be written.

Or rather, re-written.

And he had just penned the first chapter.

**A/N: **I know that we're now technically getting past the 'long wait', but there will be a concluding chapter set immediately after Marty's return from 1955 and before Doc's initial trip to the future.


	7. Chapter 7 : It Ain't Over Till it's Over

**The Long Wait**

**Chapter 7-It Ain't Over Till it's Over...**

**A/N: **This is it...the end of the long wait...both for Doc Brown, and for all you readers who's generous reviews I've much appreciated! This is one of the few multi-part fics I've actually ever finished, and that's due in part to the encouragement I got from those reviews...

_Saturday, October 26__th__, 1985_

The sound of the gunshots reverberated in Emmett Brown's ears as much as the shock-waves from the bullet's impact reverberated all across his body...bullet-proof vest or not, in that one instant, he truly felt he was dead...

_He dreamed for an eternity. Or was it just a dream? Wasn't it the afterlife?_

_A torrent of memories flooded him...memories of the past? Of the future? He didn't really know anymore...after all, hadn't he just proven they could be one and the same?_

_In his dream, he was standing on his toilet seat hanging a clock...then there was a momentary blackness from which he perceived, for the tiniest flicker of a nano-second, a vision of a...device. Yes, that was it, a device...an invention of some sort! And there was a voice calling him from the void...a child's voice..._

"_I'm from the future...I came here in a time machine that _you _invented..."_

_The voice...he remembered the voice! But where was it coming from?_

_He saw a photograph...a giant-sized photograph larger than life...but he couldn't recognise anyone in the picture because they were all fading away...the _picture _was fading away!_

_The photograph faded away and almost as swiftly came the vision of a Clock Tower...and a flyer...and a bolt of lightining striking a car in a brilliant flash of light and fire..._

_Then the car vanished and in its place was a man...a man dressed like he was in a western...Clint Eastwood! No, how could it be...he hadn't heard of Clint Eastwood yet...Marty had told him so..._

_Marty..._

_The bearded man levelled a gun at him... "I damn you...I damn you...to HELL!"the man shouted. But how could this be happening? He didn't remember any of this...was this the past? Or was it the future? Or again, were they still one and the same?_

_The sound of the gunshot somehow morphed into a tombstone of white marble...how could sound morph into substance? Then again, how could effect precede cause? If one was possible, so was the other evidently... _

_He could just about make out the inscription..._

Shot in the back...by Bufford Tannen...over a matter of eighty dollars...

_But how could this have happened? It never did happen, did it? Clint Eastwood had saved him...that's why they named the ravine after him, didn't they..._

_A swirl of images engulfed him...somehow he had a perception...of time...advancing swiftly..._

_He dreamt of a book...a large ominous book that told of the future...he dreamt of it in the hands of a shadowy figure who looked vaguely like Biff Tannen...he dreamt of a fantastic world of flying cars and fingerprint scanners...he dreamt of a woman and her smile...and of something falling into a ravine...he dreamt of a mysterious man in a black trench-coat who handed him a spanner..._

_Past or future...there was no difference now..._

_The voices engulfed him as powerfully as the images...if not more..._

"_I didn't invent any time machine"_

"_...serious repercussions on future events..."_

"_On the night I go BACK...you get-"_

"_...I'm back _from _the future..."_

"_...I never knew I could write anything so touching..."_

"_What kind of a future do you call THAT?"_

"_You were the one who reminded me Marty...it wasn't a good idea to know too much about my future..."_

"_Remember where you're going there ARE no roads!"_

"_...Martin Seamus McFly...we decided to name him in poor Marty's memory..."_

"_...Must have been some experiment..."_

"_You built a TIME MACHINE? Out of a Delorean?"_

"_My God...they found me...I don't know how, but they found me..."_

_Past and future...one and the same..._

_But then, what _was _the present?_

_The present was _now...

_And since he hadn't time travelled yet...he was still there..._

Slowly, Doc began to feel the world around him. He felt it had changed somehow...changed around him...that was nonsense of course...only time traveller's could feel the world change around them...and he wasn't a time traveller yet...

His chest was still aching from where the bullets hit him, but it wasn't as bad as he had thought initially...the vest had absorbed most of the impact thankfully...his body ached mostly from the impact of his sudden fall to the ground, but the pain would likely subside in a few more minutes...

Yes, he was fine.

All thanks to one taped-up letter...

Suddenly, he perceived someone near him...someone sobbing...

He slowly opened his eyes...and rejoined the world of the living...quiet literally, in a way...

He saw Marty...

He sat up and looked at the teenager, still dazed. Marty looked back at him...shock and bewilderment in his eyes...

"Your alive!"

Doc still couldn't find his voice...his chest still felt heavy...God he needed to get the coat off!

He took off the coat, revealing the bulletproof vest, by way of explanation to Marty...

"Bulletproof vest", Marty marvelled. "But how _could _you _know_? I mean...I didn't have the chance to tell you..."

At this point, it suddenly hit Doc...this was _his _Marty...the Marty whom he sent back to the future...well, this _was _the future now...or rather, the present...once you had a time machine, it didn't really matter...

He took out the letter...the thirty year old letter which Marty had written mere hours ago from _his _point of view...

"What about all that talk? About screwing up future events...the space-time continuum..."

Doc realised this was the moment that Marty (yet 'another' Marty, he thought wryly) had told him about. And he spoke the very words Marty had told him to use...

"Well I figured", he said in a calm matter-of-fact tone, "What the hell!"

Yeah, it sounded perfectly natural. Especially knowing there was another reality where these words _had _flowed from his lips naturally.

Doc groaned and tried to stand up. Marty helped him up.

"Boy, come to think of it, you really don't look _that _much older than the you from 1955", Marty commented.

"Well...I still have my hair", he laughed, thinking back to when he'd seen himself on the recording of the first temporal experiment in 1955...a recording that was made just a few minutes ago...

In the distance, they could vaguely hear the sound of sirens...

"Come on, let's get out of here", Doc said, hurrying Marty into his truck which was nearby. Marty retrieved his skateboard from the ground and got into the cab."Where's the Delorean?" Doc asked Marty as he started the truck.

"At the town's square...it kinda stalled there...something wrong with the starter..."

"Well, I'm sure I can fix that for now", Doc said, as they drove away from Lone Pine Mall. "And I can get a more permanent fix in the future".

"The future?" Marty echoed. "So you're heading there _now_".

"Yeah", Doc replied.

He knew he was destined to travel to the future after Marty's return, though Marty hadn't said anything about when he'd departed. Still, Doc somehow felt that tonight was the right time...the night of the first temporal experiment, the night the first human time traveller travelled to the past _and _returned to the present, would be the night he, Emmett Brown, would _finally _make the 'historic journey' he'd dreamt about for three decades...

They arrived at the Town's Square, and Doc laid his eyes on the Delorean. Though he had seen it mere minutes ago, he realised that this was the first he'd seen of _this _Delorean in thirty years! He remembered vividly the night of November 12th 1955...the car being struck by lightining and disappearing into the future...had it really been _that _long?

"Doc, anything wrong?" Marty asked him anxiously.

"Oh no Marty...I was just thinking...about how long it's been..." Doc replied. "It's been a second to you Marty but for me it's been a really long wait. You have no idea how it's been...day to day...month to month...year to year...unable to tell you, or anyone, about what had happened in 1955..."

"Yeah I can guess, Doc" Marty said. "It's kinda weird I guess...you knowing me before I was even born!"

"Yeah", Doc said, thinking back to the day he'd met the newborn Marty.

"And it's kinda difficult to get around the idea that you knew what would happen all along while tonight", added Marty. "The Libyans...my going back in time...getting shot...everything!"

"Oh no Marty...the 'me' you remember seeing, a week ago from your perspective, was another 'me', who didn't know anything about what would happen...and who got shot...", Doc's voice trailed off...having just escaped the very death he was alluding to, he didn't really want to talk about it.

Marty shivered, "Boy, this is heavy..."

"Well, at least I now know it has nothing to do with the Earth's gravitational pull", Doc joked.

They arrived back in the lab. Doc noticed it was in a mess...more than usual that was. He sighed. "Let me guess...you _did _hook up to the amplifier", he said.

Marty looked confused for a while but then realised, "Oh...yeah...I kinda did before your call...boy that was just last morning, but it's been like a week to me".

"It was", Doc said. "You _could _have warned me about this mess you know?" Doc added, in a tone of mock exasperation.

Marty chuckled, "Hey Doc, you're the one who said you didn't want to know too much about your future".

_His _future. Doc smiled to himself. He knew, in fact, more about his future than Marty, 'this' Marty at least, could even guess. But he couldn't...there were still things he couldn't talk to Marty about...and he wasn't sure _when _those things would happen...quiet literally!

Doc set about the task of quickly patching up the starter, while Marty fed Einstein a late night snack. He then slipped the radiation suit helmet back on and inserted a fresh pellet of plutonium, before placing the case safely in the trunk.

"Better you than me", Marty commented, observing Doc's preparations to travel through time. "As fun as it was at times, I really don't think I want to time travel again anytime soon...I'm sure glad it's all over!"

_Oh but it isn't over Marty...not yet_, Doc thought to himself. And then, against his better judgement, he said out loud, "Oh I wouldn't really say that if I were you Marty...you know that old saying...it ain't over till it's over..."

"Yeah, I guess", Marty replied, uncertainly. Doc was relieved to know he didn't seem to be unduly pondering that line.

Doc then turned his attention to the time circuits. They, like everything else about the car, looked _exactly _as they did that night. Doc glanced at the 'Last Time Departed' read-out

November 12th 1955 10:04 PM

Doc smiled as he thought back to that moment. And the shocking reappearance of _another _Marty who had come 'back from the future' immediately after. He then decided to enter his Destination Time right away.

His original plan had been to go twenty five years into the future...but now, seeing the year 1955 just below the Present Time (October 26th 1985 1:53 AM)...thinking about the thirty year long wait...he couldn't but help think...thirty years...he had waited for thirty years...yes, he wouldmake up for that time by 'skipping' the _next _thirty years!

So he inputted the Destination Time- October 26th 2015 12:00 AM

Now it was time to drop Marty home and get on with the journey of a lifetime.

Doc drove Marty home to Lyon Estates in the Delorean. He had decided that the road there was sufficient enough to be able to get the car upto 88 miles per hour for temporal displacement.

"So how far ahead are you going?" Marty asked, as he got out of the car.

"About thirty years", he replied. "It's a nice round number".

"Look me up when you get there alright", Marty said as he shook Doc's hand. "Guess I'll be around 47".

"I will", Doc assured him. He remembered Marty saying something about his own future. Perhaps this would be how he was meant to find out...

"Take care", Marty added.

"You too", Doc replied sincerely.

"Bye Einie", Marty said to the dog. "Oh and watch that re-entry", he told Doc again, "It's kinda bumpy".

"You bet", Doc said, smiling as he thought about how Marty had mentioned this to him as well on his second trip to '55. Something else he would probably fix while upgrading the car in the future. He already knew he had to get that hover conversion done...

Marty closed the car door. Doc backed out of the drive-way, activating the time circuits as he did so. He drove down the street, then turned the car around. He could barely contain his excitement..._finally_, he was going to time travel! There was a world of difference between knowing you were going to do it and _actually _experiencing it for the first time...

He drove the car straight down the street watching the speedometer rise steadily...40, 50, 60...

He stole one last glance at the time circuits, and the Destination Time in particular.

October 26th 2015 12: 00 AM

"Here we go, Einie", he muttered to himself, and to the dog seated besides him as he glanced at the speedometer once more.

70, 80, 85...88...

There was a sudden brilliant flash of light all around the car and...

_Monday, October 26__th__, 2015_

...he was there!

Doc slowly de-accelerated the car. He then looked around him, outside the windows.

At first, the street looked exactly as he had left it...but then, he began to notice the subtle differences...the more futuristic looking cars, the _much_ cleaner street, the houses...

He glanced at the time circuits.

DESTINATION TIME

October 26th 2015 12: 00 AM

CURRENT TIME

October 26th 2015 12: 01 AM

LAST TIME DEPARTED

October 26th 1985 2: 11 AM

He had done it! He was in the future! Not the future he had dreamed about for thirty years...no, that future was now in the past...he was in a time beyond all that now...he had fulfilled his lifelong ambition!

Suddenly, a shadow seemed to descend upon him and the Delorean. Startled, Doc got out of the car and glanced at the night sky and saw...

A flying car!

Yes, there was no doubt about it...he _was _in the future.

Of course, he knew that he wouldn't be in the future for very long. Of course, he knew that he would eventually end up in the past, _far _back in the Old West...but that didn't matter...not at the moment...at the moment, he _literally _had all the time in the world! And he was going to enjoy it to its fullest.

Yes, it had been a long wait. But it was now over. But the adventure wasn't yet over...in fact, it was only beginning...


End file.
